£340m fraud claim against a global investment bank
A global investment bank faced a £340m fraud claim threatening to dominate two years of management time. The claim was dismissed in full at trial.
Client Challenge
A counterparty alleged the bank had knowingly misrepresented the terms of a complex structured transaction, seeking £340m in damages. Beyond the financial exposure, the bank's board was concerned about the claim's potential to unsettle counterparties mid-transaction and attract regulatory attention at a sensitive moment for the business.
Legal Strategy
Rather than leading with procedural challenges, we built the defence around forensic reconstruction of the disputed transaction — assembling a documentary record that established the counterparty's own conduct at the time contradicted the account now being put forward in the claim. Senior associate Olivia Chen led the disclosure exercise from week one, prioritising the electronic evidence most likely to matter at trial.
Turning Point
Under cross-examination, the claimant's own expert witness conceded that the transaction's structure was consistent with market practice at the time — undermining the central factual premise the entire claim depended on. That concession, secured through months of preparation rather than a single dramatic exchange, effectively decided the outcome before closing submissions.
Every head of claim was rejected at trial, with costs awarded to our client. The judgment vindicated the bank's account of the transaction in terms specific enough to be cited internally in subsequent, unrelated regulatory conversations.
Business Impact
The full dismissal preserved the bank's standing with regulators and counterparties throughout the trial period — a period during which an adverse outcome, or even a settlement perceived as an admission, could have complicated unrelated transactions the bank had in progress. The client has since instructed the firm on two further matters.
Who worked this matter.
Speak with Charles Stone.
Senior Partner, Commercial Litigation
Contact Charles